


Of Dark Mountains and Dark Histories

by MidnightAlex



Series: The 100 Daemons AU [2]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Azgeda!Clarke, F/F, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-25 09:35:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12033168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightAlex/pseuds/MidnightAlex
Summary: More and more people are being taken by the mountain and the ripas are bolder than ever, forcing Lexa to call a war meeting with the highest ranking generals from the Clans.Clarke is not particularly happy to be back in Polis, but the Commander is distracting enough to make the stay bearable. Now if only Anya kom Trikru could stop glaring at her.





	Of Dark Mountains and Dark Histories

Lexa stared at the sprawling city from her spot in the balcony. She always went to the top floors of the tower when she needed to think or she wanted a quiet moment to decompress. Only Titus would come up here and disturb her if there was need of her.

She had just started to relax after the past few months. The winter hadn't been too harsh, and most of the Clans went through it without too many losses of people, food or cattle. It had been the mildest winter in the past decade or so. Of course, the maunon would have to ruin it.

Lexa sighed, rotating her shoulders and neck to try and release some of the tension. She had received reports of people being taken by the maunon with increased frequency, and sightings of ripas farther away from the accursed place than they ever went before, deep into Trikru territory.

Lexa cursed under her breath and stared unseeing at the sky. The Maun-de had to be stopped. There was no other way. But how?

And, she thought with a deep frown, what after? She had no illusions about the Kongeda; she had to force many Clans to join with violence and blackmail and other joined simply to figure out a way to get rid of the maunon. Maintaining the Kongeda would be almost as difficult as forming it.

But first, she needed to get rid of the maunon.

 

The idea of going over to Clarke to interrupt her during training and tell her to pack and head to Polis for a meeting of generals was not something Roan was thrilled about.

He had figured she was in one of her moods first thing in the morning when she stomped inside his room without even bothering to let him put on some clothes after his bath, Asher following after her screeching at one of the guards by the door and barked to take care of his duties while she 'put the fear of the spirits in those wannabe warriors'.

He tried to give her a wide berth the rest of the day -as did most of the city- and hoped she wouldn't kill half of the warriors while training them.

He did need the soldiers, after all. Especially after Clarke convinced him to stop his mother's policy of conscription of every able man and woman who could be spared by villages across Azgeda. The villages needed the manpower, she argued, if they wanted to gather enough food and pelts to do more than just scraping by winter after winter, and a nation needed more than just warriors to grow.

He approached the training barracks with some trepidation, Raiga already hidden beneath his furs, out of sight from both Clarke and her crazy daemon.

 

Klark's daemon arrived alone.

Lexa glanced at the city gates, she could barely see them on the outskirts of Polis, but there seemed to be no more people than usual.

She looked at the vulture from the corner of her eye, noticing that he was staring hard at her, not even bothering to pretend not to.

She took a deep breath. Klark had not even stepped foot into her city yet, and she was already throwing her off guard.

She didn't like it, she decided. She ignored the little thrill she got at the idea of someone making her work to understand them.

She turned towards the lone daemon, careful to keep a placid and neutral expression, and nodded slightly at it, unwilling to breach Klark's privacy and speak to her daemon without her consent.

She had thought the daemon would merely return the nod or simply acknowledge the gesture, but it surprised her again.

'Clarke and her men found a Trikru family of five walking to Polis with their possessions. She offered to help them carry their things with their horses and told me to alert you that they would probably be slowed down at least a day. One of the children is barely a few months old, and the mother needs to stop frequently to rest and feed him.'

Lexa almost choked on her spit when the daemon had started to directly speak to her but managed to wrangle herself under control.

She was surprised both at Klark's kindness towards someone not of her clan -especially considering she was Azgeda- and at her sending her daemon to alert her as soon as possible. She had not been expecting the Azgeda general to arrive for at least another couple of days, after all.

Lexa glanced quickly towards Elesmera, who was currently looking at the daemon next to her with a cooked head and wide unblinking eyes.

'Thank you for alerting me-'

'Asher.'

Lexa took another deep breath, still slightly off kilter. 'Thank you for alerting me, Asher.' She thought for a second. 'Will you be flying back to the general, or will you stay here?'

Lexa wasn't sure what she would have preferred.

The daemon seemed to shrug, the action looking bizarre on a bird; especially one as intimidating as the vulture in front of her.

'I'll stay here, there's no need for me to go back and forth like that.'

Lexa nodded again. 'Very well. You may use the same room offered to general Klark Kom Azgeda last year. Do you remember where it is?' 

The bird nodded, the action causing the black feathers going down its beak like a bizarre goatee to sway lightly.

'I remember. Thank you, Heda.' 

Without another word, the daemon launched itself from the balcony and Lexa soon lost sight of it.

She shared a bemused look with Elesmera. The meetings hadn't even started yet, but Klark kom Azgeda was already proving even more interesting than last year.

She wasn't sure that was a good thing.

 

Clarke was glad Polis was less crowded than it was during the previous summer summit, although still too cramped for her tastes. Her warriors and she left the small Trikru family they were travelling with just after the gates, where they were required to go through a light inspection from the city guards.

Clarke and her men were immediately directed towards the tower since it was already sunset; apparently, the guards had instructions to just show them to their quarters. Clarke was glad of it, she was too tired and sore to deal with politics. Also, she smelled of horses.

The ride to the tower was relatively quiet, luckily it was already late enough that the majority of the merchants had already left. She was directed towards her old room, and upon entering she was assaulted by Asher slamming into her. She fell with a grunt and a muttered curse, trying unsuccessfully to get Asher off her and ignoring his screeching in her ear. 

She stopped only when she heard the sound of tearing cloth and guessed Asher talons had done some damage. 'Damn it, Asher! That's the third time you ruin one of my jackets!'

'Look at the bright side, you get practice in sewing.'

She finally managed to push Asher off her, causing a startled squeak from her daemon who tumbled inelegantly to the floor in a mess of feathers and talons.

'I know how to sew, idiot.'

'I'm pretty sure stitching someone back together doesn't count.'

Clarke glared at him while she got up and dusted off her clothes, fingering the tear she found by her shoulder.

'I'll stitch your beak shut, I'll get all the practice I need then.'

It was only when she raised her gaze from her daemon hopping irritably on the floor that she noticed the Commander looking at her with a bemused expression sitting at the table near the balcony, her owl daemon perched on the back of the chair.

Clarke froze, not expecting to have any company, her finger still stuck in the hole in her jacket and blonde eyebrows climbing slowly up her forehead.

'Heda. Apologies, I was not expecting to have company at such a late hour.' She cast a quick glare to her daemon.

The Commander's expression smoothed out quickly and she rose fluidly from the chair.

'General. I merely wished to welcome you to Polis and to make sure you and your warriors had no pressing matters to discuss.'

Clarke cocked her head, ignoring Asher flying up to her shoulder, even though she jerked when his talons dug into her skin without the protection of a pauldron. Couldn't the Commander simply have her pass by the throne room? Or send a servant to ask? Why did she have to come in person? Surely she had better things to do, a city to run, politicians to scare into submission.

'Thank you, Heda, but both my warriors and I are quite well. The journey was easy on the horses, and we encountered little problems.'

The Commander merely nodded and made for the door. 

'Very well, then. I will let you sleep, Klark kom Azgeda. I will see you tomorrow at the meeting.'

Clarke nodded, still confused, although she was careful not to show any of that on her face.

'Of course, Heda. Sleep well.'

 

Lexa had to admit seeing Klark and her daemon bicker like two goufas was always a pleasant distraction. One she had missed during those long winter months. There were not many who would be relaxed enough in her presence to joke apart from Anya. And her old Fos was not exactly of the joking kind to begin with.

She had been in the general's room talking to her daemon about the time when Klark and he attended the Trishana's festival of The Bright Fruit in spring, when the explosion of flowers and fruits made the glowing forests their clan was so famous for even brighter than usual when Clarke had come in and Asher had catapulted himself across the room.

She was very careful not to let show just how amused she was at seeing the woman who scared into submission the Azgeda army being teased by her own daemon.

 

Clarke was tired and grumpy the next morning and waking up with Asher screeching in her ear never helped her mood. Especially when he scared her enough to tumble out of bed in a mess of furs, forcing her to have to disentangle herself before being able to get up.

She grumbled her way through her morning routine while Asher flew around the tower and readied herself for the war meeting. The letter every general received informed them that the Maun-de had been more active recently, but there were no details.

She decided to forego the white war paint common to Azgeda and braided her hair back, shouldering her white fur jacket and hiding a small dagger in each boot along the two long knives on her belt.

She eyed the small battle axe on her table; it had a narrow slicing blade curving down to form a slight crescent on one side and a wooden handle as long as her arm. It was light enough for her to use one-handled but still created enough kinetic energy to cut off a man's arm or to embed itself in armour. She had found she quite liked the weapon, not needing to exert as much force as she would a sword and still deal enough damage to opponents who were generally much bigger than her. She had trained diligently with it for the better part of the winter until she was almost as proficient with it as she was with her knives.

In the end, she decided against bringing it to the meeting. She hardly thought it would escalate enough for her to need it. 

At least the first day.

 

Lexa was already in the meeting room with Anya when the generals started trickling in, Klark being one of the first. 

They exchanged respectful nods and Lexa ignored Anya's startled look and the glare she directed towards the Azgeda general. Klark just raised an eyebrow, the white ceremonial scars seemingly shining on her face in the morning light and looked at the map spread on the table, analysing the territory around Maun-de with a sharp gaze that Lexa found she had missed almost as much as the banter she had been privy to yesterday evening.

She noticed Anya was still staring at the other woman before she approached Lexa, Feil trotting just behind her, the fox's fur as red as Autumn leaves.

'Where in the spirits is her daemon?'

Lexa blinked, surprised. She had forgotten to tell Anya about Klark's strange connection with her daemon. She spared the general a glance before turning back to Anya, the other woman was still enraptured by the map, brows furrowed in concentration, apparently ignoring everyone else.

'General Klark kom Azgeda and her daemon seem to have a peculiar bind, Anya. They can be apart from each other. Although I'm not entirely sure how far.'

The startled and disturbed expression on the generally stoic woman's face and the way Feil's jaw dropped was enough to bring the shadow of a smile to Lexa's face. The smile was quickly wiped out by her next words.

'She- that's not natural. Lexa, how is that possible?' Feil hissed lowly, distressed. Anya hadn't raised her voice in order to avoid attracting the attention of the few generals in the room and of the woman in question, but the strain was still plain to hear.

Lexa frowned, debating how to answer her old Fos's question.

'I know Asher and Klark had been separated against their will, they assumed it has to do with that. Apparently, he had not yet settled when it had happened. Or so she told me.'

Anya blinked at her.

'She told you? And you know her daemon's name? Lexa, how close are you? She's Azgeda! She's probably plotting the best way to stab you in the back!' She hissed, looking like she was about to storm up to the woman and deal with the presumed danger herself.

Luckily, she settled for just glaring at her. Unfortunately, Klark noticed and stared back at Anya with narrowed eyes and squared shoulders.

Lexa was just about to intervene, hoping to keep the situation from escalating, when Asher came gliding in from the open window by the balcony behind her throne and perched on her shoulder, distracting Klark when she had to duck slightly to avoid being hit by a massive black wing.

She saw her scowl at her daemon and grumble something, but Asher merely nipped her ear.

She sighed, looking back at Anya who was still staring at the general, a mixture of disgruntlement and trepidation on her face before she masked it.

'That thing is her daemon?' Feil made a strangled sound and Lexa smirked. She had grown almost accustomed to Asher, especially since he had started talking to her, although Elesmera still had to gather the courage to do the same and had forgotten how intimidating he could be to someone who had never seen him before.

'Indeed. Not the kind of daemon one would expect from a woman as tiny as her, is it?' Lexa had discovered last summer that Klark was very conscious of her height and had seen her kick king Roan in the shin quite hard after a teasing comment. 'People seem to forget she has quite a fearsome reputation at seeing her.'

Anya was still staring.

'About that. How in the spirits does a tiny woman like that manage to control the whole army of Azgeda? They're beasts at the best of times!'

 

Clarke already didn't like the tall woman with sharp cheekbones and a sleek fox at her feet. She supposed her glaring was simply ingrained whenever she saw someone from Azgeda -she was obviously Trikru, after all- but that didn't make it any less irritating.

And she was clearly talking about her to the Commander, which made her distinctly uncomfortable. She wasn't even trying to be subtle about it. She had been just about to storm up to her and demand what her problem was when Asher had landed none too gently on her shoulder.

She decided to ignore both the Commander and the Trikru general after that, focusing on the detailed map on the table. The Maun-de's territory was not particularly wide and surrounded by Trikru's villages and outposts at a safe distance.

The Maun-de had been a recurring thought to her since the first time she heard of it. They clearly had old world technology, it was the only explanation for the fog and, obviously, the missiles she had heard they used in the past decades when large scale attacks had been attempted against them. What she could not figure out, though, was the ripas and why the maunon were never seen outside the blasted mountain.

She had deduced the mountain must have been an old world bunker of some sort, or a military outpost equipped with sustaining a small community. Maybe a someone hid there during the nuclear bombing and never adapted to the radiation? 

She frowned deeply, still staring at the map and ignoring the increased noise from the generals trickling into the room. Why had the Commander called a general meeting now? Had the maunon done something to worry her? As far as she knew the only thing they ever did was kidnap people never to be seen again. At least not sane.

She spared a glance to the Commander, still talking to the Trikru general, her small owl daemon at her feet close to the fox. Was she planning another attack? She didn't think the Commander would start a losing war without a good reason.

She breathed out sharply and wrestled her thoughts under control, lost in thought and merely moving to caress Asher's chest feathers when he bumped her head for attention. She barely registered the Commander getting close to her, and pointedly ignored the Trikru general, only stiffening when she noticed her a couple paces behind the Commander, still glaring.

'You seem particularly interested in the map, general Klark.'

The Commander's voice was placid, not giving away any of her thoughts. Clarke looked at her from the corner of her eye, still petting Asher who was also looking at the woman.

'Isn't it why we're here? To look at maps and argue with each other until we decide what to do?'

Did the Commander's lips turn up for a millisecond? Clarke blinked and ignored, again, the Trikru snorting in disdain.

Asher didn't.

'Careful, Commander. You might want to make sure you don't catch rabies from that walking stick behind you.'

Clarke raised her head and stared at the Commander, who was blinking back at her with wide eyes. Neither knew exactly how to react, although Clarke had to bite her lips to keep from laughing. The Commander had just taken a deep breath to, supposedly, do something, when the other woman snarled from behind her.

'And you should keep that monster of yours under control, Azgeda scum before I take the matter into my hands. And be more respectful of Heda!' She spat the name Azgeda with such venom that even the Commander furrowed her brows.

Clarke sneered at the woman, fed up with her attitude. Who did she think she was? 'Asher wouldn't have commented if you hadn't been acting like an asshole. Or are all the generals in your tribe going around glaring for no reason? Are you incapable of talking like a civilised person? And if you call Asher a monster again, I'll make a scarf with your dog.' The fox hissed at her, clearly insulted.

 

Lexa was not going to stand there and watch Anya and Klark devolve into two goufas snarling and insulting each other. She stepped in between them, Elesmera puffed up on her shoulder and glaring at the women, and said firmly. 'If you both don't stop, you will spend tonight in the same cell and we'll see how that goes.' 

She turned to her old Fos, 'Anya, you will stop harassing general Klark! And Klark, try not to make things worse!'

Both women turned fuming glares at her, apparently forgetting she was their Heda and she merely narrowed her eyes at them. She noticed Asher glaring at Feil as if wondering how he would taste.

'She has been glaring at me for no reason since I came here, and insulted my daemon! Keep your general under control, Heda!' Klark spoke through her teeth before turning around and marching towards the Ouskejon general, though not before sending a last seething glare towards Anya.

Lexa sighed, her shoulder slumping infinitesimally before she drew herself back again. 

'What in the name of the spirits was that, Anya? Klark has the potential of being an invaluable ally and to finally help smooth things between Trikru and Azgeda. I will not have you ruining this chance by insulting another general for no reason, am I clear?' she spoke calmly through gritted teeth, but she was sure Anya could read the barely repressed irritation in her eyes because her brows furrowed.

'Lexa…she's Azgeda! You can't trust her!'

Lexa closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before opening her eyes and schooling her features into a mask of calm.

'You will not alienate general Klark kom Azgeda, Anya. That's an order. If you cannot behave civilly, then you will stay away from her.'

Without another glance to her surprised Fos, she turned around and strode back to her throne.

She was already sick of stubborn generals, and she had twelve to deal with in the same room.

 

Clarke was going through stances with her battle axe on the Natblida's hill later in the evening, still thinking of what transpired during the meeting the same morning.

The maunons had been more active, kidnapping more people and sending ripas further from the mountain than they ever went before. Clarke furrowed her brow while executing a lighting quick slash that would have quite possibly decapitated an opponent. The news were troubling; why would the maunon change their patterns now? What had happened to make them restless? What plan were they trying to achieve?

She grunted, the axe flying through the air and changing hand fluidly when she turned around. She thought back to the descriptions of the ripas from the Trikru scouts the Commander had called in during the meeting; they were clearly some of those kidnapped by the maunon and their actions couldn't be explained with congenital illnesses or radiations since they had been perfectly normal before their capture. She supposed that, since there was technology in the mountain, they could have used some kind of toxin or drug to reproduce an altered mental state. She thought back to when she started studying medicine with her mother and the effects of certain drugs. 

She added a knife to her forms, still handling the axe with her left hand and slicing the air with the wicked blade in her right. Drugs were a likely culprit, and they would probably be damaging if not lethal if used too long, hence the need for more prisoners.

But the ripas were all described as strong and able bodied warriors. What happened to the women, children and weak bodied that were kidnapped alongside them? Did they simply succumb to the drugs inside Maun-de?

She stopped in the middle of the hill, panting for breath and with sweat running down her face, her axe and knife resting against the outside of her thighs.

She needed to get her hands on a ripa if she wanted to know more, theories were all good and well, but she needed to prove them.

But then, how would she explain her apparently inexplicable knowledge of old world medicine? Azgeda was not particularly liked by the other clans; if she was not careful she could end up painting Azgeda as being in connection with the maunon, as ridiculous as that sounded, and it could spark another war.

She cursed under her breath and scowled at the ground, thinking hard. 

The Commander seemed keen to bring all the clans together to find a way to finally bring down Maun-de and often stressed the importance of collaboration. She could play on that and offer small parties of Azgeda warriors to coordinate with Trikru to keep an eye on the maunons. If they so happened across a ripa or two and managed to capture them and bring them back to their camp where Clarke could study them, well, the Commander didn't need to know, did she?

Asher perched on her naked shoulder, startling her out of her machinations with his sharp talons digging into her skin. She cursed again.

'Dammit, Asher! Stop doing that!'

'The Commander has been staring at you since you were in the middle of your forms, you idiot! Keep your head in the game, what if she had been an assassin or someone with a grudge with Azgeda?'

Clarke grumbled and turned around, looking for the woman and finding her at the edge of the small hill sitting on the small boulder where Clarke had left her jacket and shirt. 

She seemed quite content to just stare at her.

Clarke shook Asher off her shoulder and started toward the other woman, looking around her to see whether the annoying Trikru general was anywhere near. Apparently, Anya kom Trikru had been the Commander's Fos before she became Heda, or so she had been informed by one of the tower servants.

'Not feeling up to a spar today, Heda?'

She enjoyed the way the other woman barely dipped her head to the side with the slightest quirk to her lips, her green eyes focused on Clarke.

'I was not sure you wished to continue our sparring sessions from last summer, general. And you seemed in deep thought.'

Clarke shrugged, careful to give an idea of ease.

'I don't see why not, sparring with someone is always better than doing so alone.'

She started back towards the centre of the training area, listening to the rustle of clothes and the almost silent steps behind her. She looked at the woman, raising her axe and placing her knife in a defensive position.

'As for my thoughts; how would you feel about small Azgeda scouting parties helping your Trikru forces? I would be in the camp with them to monitor relations with Trikru.'

The Commander narrowed her eyes, studying her cautiously. Her long sword raised in front of her, ready to attack and defend.

'And why would you offer scouting parties, general?'

Clarke feigned on the left with her axe and attacked lighting fast with her knife from the right, pointing toward the Commander's flank.

'Is that not the reason you created the Coalition? To have all the clans help against Maun-de? Besides, you were not exactly subtle during the meeting with your suggestions.'

The Commander blocked all her attacks and Clarke had to take a few steps back at the barrage of slashes she got in response.

'I suppose I have not been subtle, no.'

Clarke snorted, breathing heavily.

'I'd gather generals tend to need less subtlety and more smacks behind the head to have them act like adults and not overgrown children.'

Clarke was sure the Commander almost smiled. 'You are a general too, Klark. Should I hit you behind the head like a misbehaving goufa as well?'

Clarke swept the Commander's legs from beneath her and pressed her advantage when she stumbled, forcing her to retreat and fall in a defensive position.

'We both know I'm much better at politics than all the other generals put together. Except for maybe Lana and Garrik.' 

Clarke had noticed the tall and somewhat lanky Trishana and the silent Sankru generals seemed to pick up things much quicker than the rest of their colleagues during the meeting; they were to be watched.

The flash of surprise in green eyes let her know that the Commander had noticed the same thing, but was not expecting someone else to have reached the same conclusion as her.

They kept sparring in silence until Asher grew bored and dumped some small sticks and earth on her to get her attention, prompting a surprised gasp from the Commander and some choice of words from Clarke. 

 

Lexa had been caught by surprise when Asher threw dirt at them and had misplaced her foot, causing a sharp pain to go up her leg.

Klark seemed to notice something was wrong when she looked at her from where she was stood bickering with her daemon and watched her limp slightly towards the boulder at the edge of the training area. She usually sat there with the Natblidas to impart some lesson or another, and there were logs around for them to sit. Deciding her ankle would not appreciate having to jump to settle on the boulder; she selected to sit on one of the bigger logs.

'Are you alright?'

Klark's worried voice was closer than she expected, and she looked up from where she was glaring at her foot to see her just a couple of paces from her, looking worriedly at her. Asher seemed to have abandoned his quest to annoy his human as well since he was staring at her from her raised forearm covered with leather straps with his piercing eyes.

Lexa was just about to assure them that she was fine when Elesmera chose that moment to speak to Klark for the first time. 'She sprained her ankle.'

Lexa glared at the owl perched on the log next to hers, and almost missed when Klark kneeled beside her after having shaken off her surprise.

'May I? I have training as a healer.'

Lexa blinked back at her, surprised. 'You do? But you are a general and a warrior.'

Klark made an aborted shrug and sighed.

'My mother was a- a healer. She taught me a few things and I picked up others here and there.' She gestured at her leg with a questioning look and Lexa made an aborted gesture for her to go ahead, still surprised by the woman with a politician's mind, a warrior's life and, apparently, a healer's past.

She also noted the slight pause before she said that her mother was a healer, as if she was about to say something else.

'How did you end up a general if your mother wanted you to be a healer?'

Lexa tried valiantly to ignore the feel of Klark's nimble fingers working on the straps of her high boots before they started checking her ankle.

Klark scowled down at her foot, seemingly lost in memories. 'I wanted to be a healer as well. Or an artist, although I couldn't have been that anyway. Not useful enough.' Lexa hissed when her ankle was twisted and rotated slightly. 'I…was taken from my people about four years ago and ended up in Azgeda. I had no choice but to do what Nia wanted me to then. She needed a smart warrior, so I became one.'

Lexa was so surprised she forgot the pain in her ankle for a few moments, and Elesmera hooted softly in question.

'You are not Azgeda?' She saw the general clench her jaw, the muscle popping. She didn't look up at her, still focused on her ankle.

'No. I was captured when my people left me in Azgeda territory. Nia thought I might have been a spy. Roan figured I wasn't and gave me a place in the army. I climbed the ranks fairly quickly after I received some training.'

 

Clarke figured that the story was not exactly a lie. It was just a bit revisited. The Ark did leave her to die in Azgeda territory -or they threw her there, she guessed- and Nia did think her a spy after seeing her fall from the sky. Though her climbing the social ladder in the Azgeda army might have been helped by Roan and some working with him to kill Nia and secure the throne.

But the Commander didn't need to know that.

'What clan are you from, originally?'

She guessed she should have expected that question. She sighed, keeping her hands busy helping the Commander put her boot back on.

'None.'

She figured the Commander would just think her family one of the many that wandered the Dead Zone and either had no allegiance to any clan or were exiled or fled after a crime.

She was not about to correct her.

The Commander was still staring at her with those disgustingly green eyes of hers when Clarke rose and helped her up.

'You shouldn't put too much weight on it for a few days, and keep it raised when you can. But it's not broken or severely sprained.'

The woman merely nodded, still looking at her and Asher.

'Why did your people leave you in Azgeda territory?'

Clarke clenched her jaw, breathing hard with her nose and glancing at the sky as if it had offended her.

'My father had discovered that the place we were living was not going to be habitable much longer, and the leader of our group decided to kill him to prevent him from telling anyone. I was considered too young to be executed with him, so I was charged with a smaller crime and exiled so I couldn't tell anyone what he had done.'

 

Lexa was still reeling at Klark's story. She was incredibly surprised that an outsider managed to not only find a place in a clan renowned for its suspicion of other clans, but also to raise the ranks as quickly as she did. 

She gritted her teeth thinking of the injustice she suffered; first when her own people accused her unjustly and exiled her and then when Nia captured her. 

She looked at the woman walking back to the tower next to her with a carefully neutral expression that couldn't completely mask the way she was clearly uneasy surrounded by people.

'Klark?' She received a tense hum to let her know the woman was listening to her, although she never stopped scanning the crowd. 'Your scars, Nia tortured you when she captured you, didn't she? It's why Asher and you can be so far apart, she was the one who separated you.'

Clarke seemed to freeze mid-step before resuming marching towards the tower at a slightly faster pace.

'She did. I guess my people were lucky they didn't actually have any plans against her, I wasn't trained and I would have told Nia everything I knew to avoid more pain. Shame she didn't believe me. The only reason I'm still alive is that Roan took an interest in me.'

Lexa didn't ask any more questions after that, knowing Klark enough by now to be able to read the tension in her shoulders and the stubborn line of her jaw.

They walked in silence and got into a smaller alley in between buildings to avoid the worst of the crowd. Asher left his place on Klark's shoulder without a sound and flew towards the tower, apparently bored with their silence. Elesmera watched him go, a curious and slightly pitying gleam in her yellow eyes.

 

Clarke wasn't sure she wanted to be anywhere near Lexa after opening up about her past, but she also was the only one in the whole city whose company she actually enjoyed.

She scowled, looking down at the city from where she was standing on the balcony of her quarters. Lexa had not yet told her whether she would accept her offering of scouts to keep an eye on the maunon's movements.

She heard the door open and assumed it would be the Commander since no one announced her, and turned around with a raised brow only to find Anya marching towards her with a deep scowl and her hand on the pommel of her sword. Her fox daemon was spitting and growling beside her.

Clarke immediately tensed and cursed herself for having left her knives and axe on the table and took on a defensive position. She spied with the corner of her eye Asher flying silently away.

The woman was almost upon her when she drew her sword and took a swipe at her, causing Clarke to have to retreat towards the edge of the balcony and duck.

'If you dare attack me again, I swear by the spirits I will kill you, Anya!'

The woman just snarled and attacked her again, apparently furious beyond words.

'What is your plan, Azgeda scum? Do you want to kill Heda and make it look like a training accident?'

Clarke narrowed her eyes while she kept dancing around the balcony to avoid the blade swinging in her direction. Anya was trying to kill her because the Commander had sprained her ankle?

She gritted her teeth, furious and launched herself at the woman ignoring the sharp pain at her side when the blade caught her flesh.

She obviously took the woman by surprise with her recklessness and managed to deliver a flurry of punches at her face and stomach, leaving her dazed. She barely left her time to regroup before she swiped her legs from beneath her and was on her again, straddling her torso and raining blow after blow at her.

She lost herself in it. Her surroundings faded away and she kept punching blindly while images of warriors surrounding her in her cell, taunting and raining punches and kicks from every side invaded her mind. Images of battlefields muddy with blood, the stench of bodies thick in her nose.

She kept punching, not hearing the door barging open nor the alarmed voices that surrounded her.

She didn't hear the Commander's voice calling her name to stop, she didn't feel the hands trying to separate her from the unconscious woman beneath her.

She only heard Asher cooing next to her, letting her know she was safe and they weren't in the cell anymore, nor on the battlefield.

She stopped, blinking at the wide green eyes and bloody mouth in front of her and looked around.

The guards made themselves scarce by going outside the door with a quick gesture from the Commander while Clarke panted on the ground, eyes on the unconscious figure a few paces from her.

'Klark! What happened? Why were you attacking Anya?'

Clarke thought the woman sounded angry, but she wasn't present enough yet to be sure.

She glared at her.

'Attacking her? That bitch barged into my room without a word and attacked me!' 

She got up, forcing the Commander to take a step back from her, and held her side where she was starting to feel the pain of her injury and tried to stem the flow of blood.

'If you don't keep that bitch on a leash, Heda, I will make sure she won't try and do something like that again on my own!' She took a threatening step towards the woman. 'I don't take well to people attacking me. And next time I'll kill her before anyone comes through that damn door, am I clear?'

The Commander scowled and seemed about to punch her herself when Clarke stumbled, dizzy from loss of blood and the adrenaline dropping drastically, making her stumble towards the Commander who kept her upright with an arm around her waist and one on her shoulder.

The last think Clarke saw before the world faded to black was wide green eyes, dark with worry.

 

Lexa was…furious. And disappointed.

She wished she could be angry at Clarke for almost beating Anya to death, but she had to admit she was justified in defending herself.

She thought back at the crazed look in ice blue eyes when she tried to stop her; there was no recognition, only fear and the hard glint of survival instincts kicking in. It was a look she had seen before in those warriors who lost themselves after a battle.

Or, she thought, in the eyes of an innocent woman who was tortured and broken until nothing was left but the will to survive.

She sighed, looking at Anya lying on the cot. The healer had told her she would likely wake up before Klark.

She massaged her temples, her migraine getting worse by the minute. Anya's actions could cause some serious damage to relations with Azgeda if Klark were to press the issue and demand Anya killed for her unprovoked attack. If that wasn't enough, Klark was obviously unarmed when Anya attacked her, her knives and axe lying in plain sight on the table in her room.

She was just about to turn around and find something to distract herself with when Anya moaned and tried to move, obviously in the process of waking up.

Lexa stood straighter and clenched her jaw, steeling herself for the conversation that was about to take place.

 

Clarke woke up to sharp pain in her side and Asher nestled in the pillow against her neck.

She hissed when she tried to move and immediately remembered what had happened, shooting up on her bed and checking frantically around her room for any danger.

That blasted Trikru madwoman was nowhere to be seen and she took a relieved breath. She carefully undid the bandages around her torso to check on her injury. It was a deep gash, but nothing vital had been hit. She figured she had passed out from blood loss. She furrowed her brows, her memories slightly fuzzy.

'Ash? What happened?'

He cocked his head at her, stepping on her thigh carefully to avoid hurting her with his talons and nudging her hand with his beak to prompt her to caress him.

They both needed the contact.

'You lost it. You started hitting the general and would have probably killed her if the Commander and a few of her guards hadn't stopped you.' He gave a low snicker. 'You socked the Commander right on the mouth, it was pretty funny. The guards seemed about to piss themselves.' Clarke snorted. 'Anyway, after you stopped you almost immediately passed out and a healer stitched you up.'

She hummed, looking at the balcony and noticing there was no blood anywhere. Someone had probably cleaned her room.

'How long was I out?'

Asher grumbled when she tried to make herself more comfortable on the pillows and jostled him.

'Almost two days. And before you ask, the Commander is waiting for you to wake up to talk to you about dealing with that crazy beast of hers. She regained consciousness yesterday evening and she was assigned guards to keep her in check and strict orders to stay away from you.'

Clarke looked at Asher with a raised brow, moving her caresses from his head to his wings.

'The Commander told you that?'

'Nah. I was spying from the window.'

She let out a gasping laugh, smacking the daemon when her movements sent sharp bursts of pain along her side, making his squawk indignantly.

 

The healer informed her that Klark was awake while she was debating with Titus whether to accept Azgeda's help with reconnaissance around Maun-de. She was careful to keep her face from showing her relief and dismissed the fleimkepa, marching towards the general's room. She tried not to think about the fact that she had missed Klark, and how worried she had been.

She knocked on the door and went inside almost timidly, not really sure how to deal with an injured and probably furious Klark.

The woman was not on the bed as she should have been, and Lexa reflexively furrowed her brows at seeing her seated at the table; papers scattered around her and charcoal in her hand.

And on her nose and forehead.

Elesmera flew onto the table, seemingly riveted by whatever was on the paper.

'Heda, excuse me if I don't get up.'

Lexa walked to the table, her eyes running along Klark's seated figure in search of signs of pain and obvious injuries.

'You should be in bed. The healer told me you are to be resting and not move for a few more days.'

Klark snorted, making her raise an eyebrow and look at her sternly.

'There's no way I'm staying in bed for who knows how long. I know what movements to avoid. I'll be fine.' She saw blue eyes lose any trace of warmth. 'Let's talk about Anya. Why should I accept her staying away from me and just having guards as an acceptable punishment for trying to murder me? And while I was unharmed.'

Lexa clenched her jaw. That was exactly what she feared; Azgeda weren't exactly known for their mercy and Klark was the wronged party.

'You almost killed her, is that not punishment enough for you, general Klark?'

Narrowed blue eyes pierced her like spears.

'I was defending myself. That was hardly a punishment.'

Lexa sighed. Klark's hard tone clipping the words like she was trying to spit them out. She noticed a hint of an accent, but chalked it up to her being from the Dead Zone. It was common for people of many clans to form small communities, it made sense that the accents would get muddled up after a while.

Lexa took out a chair and sat, feeling the weight of the situation of her shoulders. She looked at Klark, at the stubborn way her jaw was clenched and her brow furrowed, how she was gripping the coal, almost breaking it.

'Pressing for a public punishment for the Trikru general would not help relations between our two clans, you know that. And if your scouts are to enter Trikru territory and help, then tensions would surely create problems.'

Klark seemed to scowl even more at that.

'You mean to say that Trikru would rather protect a criminal than accept they were wrong? And using my offer against me is a low blow, Heda.'

Lexa was confused by the idiom, but figured it's significance easily enough. She was about to press the matter when she caught a first glimpse of the papers strewn across the table.

'You can draw?' 

Sketches of people, places and animals covered every inch of paper, the likeliness and details astounding. She looked at Klark with wide eyes. Would this woman ever stop surprising her?

She figured she wouldn't when she saw the hint of a blush on pale cheeks.

The woman sighed. 'I do. And you're changing the subject.' Klark levelled a hard stare at her, golden eyebrows furrowed sternly. 'I will accept a private lashing, and you will accept my scouts in Trikru territory. But keep that damn woman away from me.'

 

Clarke couldn't stop the smug expression from crossing her face when Anya was accompanied in the throne room by two massive Podakru warriors. The woman's face was almost unrecognizable, her eyes swollen and her jaw slightly open, her skin a canvas of blue, purples and greens.

She was definitely going to paint that later. She wouldn't want to forget such a masterpiece.

Clarke would have been even happier if she hadn't lost control and attacked the woman almost without realizing. She thought she had her PTSD under control; apparently, she was wrong. 

The woman sent her a scathing glare with half closed eyes, her fox hissing at her. Clarke smirked.

The Commander cleared her throat from where she sat on the throne, breaking their stares. The fleimkepa standing cold and unmoving next to her with a whip in hand. His hyena daemon seated inelegantly on the floor. He reminded her of an old world monk. A very stern one.

'Anya kom Trikru, you are to receive fifty lashes for attacking and attempting to murder Klark kom Azgeda while unharmed and without issuing any form of challenge. Be thankful general Klark has not insisted on a public punishment, as she is unwilling to further damage relations between Trikru and Azgeda.'

The Commander's voice was hard and unyielding, but Clarke could hear the slightest tremor and scowled.

She didn't like hearing it.

 

Lexa went to Klark's room after Anya's punishment. Seeing her old Fos whipped had left her more shaken than she cared to admit and after checking on her she had the urge to see the Azgeda general.

She tried not to think of how suddenly soft blue eyes stared at her instead of the woman who had tried to kill her being whipped. She tried not to think of the teasing smile that would sometimes show itself during their sparring sessions. She tried not to think of nimble fingers on her leg and ankle.

She knocked on the door, barely sparing a glance to the warriors standing guard to general and looking at her quizzically, probably wondering why on earth the Commander would show up so late in the evening.

When the door opened she was surprised to see Klark in a loose shirt, short pants and loose golden hair. An equally golden eyebrow rose in question and the woman stood aside with a vague gesture to let her in.

Lexa nodded awkwardly at her, suddenly uncertain of what to do. Why was she even here? 

She took a few steps into the room, turning back towards the other woman when she closed the door.

'Klark, I wanted to thank you for not insisting on a public whipping. It would have made things…tense. Even more than they already are.'

Klark didn't say anything for a while, merely looking at her with intense blue eyes and a slightly furrowed brow. She walked towards the table, her bare feet barely making a noise against the floor.

'You're not here to thank me, Lexa.'

The use of her name startled her. The only ones who dared to use it were Titus, Anya and occasionally Gustus, and only in certain occasions. She pointedly didn't think of Costia. Hearing her name spoken by Klark's rough voice, that hint of accent slipping through again, left Lexa almost gasping for air.

She liked how her name sounded when Klark spoke it.

'I- No. I am not here to thank you.' She followed Klark to the table. 'How is your side? You should be resting.'

Klark was still looking at her with the same intensity, but now she seemed almost amused.

'I'm fine, I had worse.' A pained half-smile crossed her face, the scar on her neck stark against the skin of her neck. 'But you're not here for that either.' She grew serious. 'I'm sorry you had to have your Fos whipped, but she did try to kill me.'

Lexa blinked at the woman before turning to stare out the window. She took a deep breath.

'You are not at fault. You were in your right to ask for her execution.' She gulped, the idea enough to make her nauseous. 'I…am sorry, too, Klark. For what she tried to do.'

 

Clarke hadn't expected the Commander of the Twelve Clans to show up late in the evening looking lost and shy and apologizing for something that wasn't her fault.

For the first time since she had met her, the Commander looked young. And tired. Maybe that's why she took a risk and called her Lexa, while she was standing in the middle of her room looking like she had no idea what to do, the warm light of the candles reflecting in soulful green eyes.

Clarke sighed and scratched her chin, unknowingly leaving a smudge of charcoal on it. Her gaze jumped around her room, returning to Lexa every few seconds only to jump away again.

'You weren't at fault either, Lexa.' She decided to keep using her name, at least for tonight when she looked more like a young woman than a Commander. 'Just- forget it, ok? It's done.'

Big green eyes settled on her, surprised and thankful. She nodded, brown tresses barely moving. Then she seemed to focus on the side of her face and her plump lips turned up in a soft smile that left Clarke incredibly confused.

'Have you decided to adopt the Trikru's black war paint instead of your white one, Klark?' Her voice was amused, the earlier hesitancy seemingly lost.

Clarke was confused for a few seconds before she noticed her dirty fingers and the charcoal on the table and flushed, trying to clean her face with her forearm.

The way Lexa looked at her then was soft and kind and it made Clarke think of happier times, when she was a child on the Ark and didn't have blood on her hands and scars on her body.

She wondered if she would have those soulful green eyes looking at her like that again.


End file.
